THE FOUR RULES

1. ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED.

2. NEVER POINT YOUR MUZZLE AT SOMETHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY.

3. KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET AND YOU ARE READY TO SHOOT.

4. KNOW YOUR TARGET AND WHAT'S BEYOND.

Winston Churchill said"A GENTLEMAN, SELDOM, IF EVER, NEEDS A GUN.BUT WHEN HE DOES, HE NEEDS IT VERY BADLY!"

Si Vis Paceum Para Bellum

Sam Adams, more than beer

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen” ― Samuel Adams

Lincoln on power

"We must prevent these things being done, by either congresses or courts — The people — the people — are the rightful masters of both Congresses, and courts — not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it —" Abraham Lincoln

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs

Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdog

Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so

because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy

things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time,

that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution,

or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth

defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for? - William

J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November

24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:

"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle,

productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is

true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the

aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that

the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.

Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent

crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time

record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans,

which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is

considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since

many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number

of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation:

We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is

still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent

people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or

under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me, it is like the

pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will

grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its

hard blue shell.

Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and

someday the civilization they protect will grow into something

wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the

predators.

"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves

feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out

there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep.

There is no safety in denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to

protect the flock and confront the wolf."

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive

citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy

for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath,

a wolf.

But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your

fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone

who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of

darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep,

wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what

makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the